1. Field of Inventions
The present inventions relate generally to printers and, more specifically, to a low-profile printer with a front portion facilitating access to a print mechanism and/or sheets of printed media.
2. Description of the Related Art
Digitized images are almost ubiquitous in the modern home and workplace. These digitized images include, for example, images generated by word processing, spreadsheet, accounting, drawing and other types of commercially available computer software programs. Data associated with digitized images is also frequently read from storage device, received over telephone lines, downloaded from the internet, etc.
Digitized images of many different formats and from a variety of sources are frequently reproduced and displayed at a computer monitor. Sometimes, it is desirable to generate a printout of an image displayed on such a monitor.
Digitized images are now provided by cable and satellite systems. Such digitized images are frequently viewed, particularly in the home environment, not through a conventional personal computer system, but rather at a television monitor. For example, WebTV Network.TM. employs telephone lines and a satellite dish to provide an integrated presentation of video programming and various digitized images downloaded from the internet or from other remote sources.
Television monitors are often integrated into an entertainment center or the like. A problem with conventional entertainment centers is that they typically do not include a printer. In some instances, this is simply due to the fact that the component spaces in a typical entertainment center are sized to receive standard sized (e.g., 41/2 inches in height) components, such as a conventional Digital Video Disk (DVD) player, but are too small in height to receive a conventional printer. Furthermore, conventional printers are often shaped differently from other components in an entertainment center. Thus, the addition and integration of a conventional printer into an entertainment center, whether in the home or workplace, presents structural as well as aesthetic challenges.
The addition and integration of a conventional printer into an entertainment center presents still other challenges. By way of example, many conventional printers output sheets of printed media at a top surface of the printer. Such a printer is not practical for integration into many entertainment centers because it would be difficult (if not impossible) to retrieve the sheets of printed media without having to pull the printer forward out of the entertainment center.
Another problem with integrating a conventional printer into an entertainment center is access to the print cartridge of the printer. For many conventional printers, it would be difficult or impossible to access their print cartridge without pulling the printers out of the entertainment center.
It would be profoundly inconvenient as well as time consuming to require a user to perform a "gross unstack", i.e., completely remove the printer from an entertainment center, simply to access print cartridges or printed media. Furthermore, this would subject the printer to additional handling thereby increasing the likelihood of damaging the printer and/or its associated cabling.
Thus, a need exists for a low-profile printer suitable for operational as well as aesthetic integration into an entertainment center. Also, a need exists for a printer with a front portion through which a user can easily access a print cartridge of the printer or media printed by the printer without having to pull the printer from its ordinary position in the entertainment center.